I agree he's looked good. I thought he was Reno's best player in the 1st scrimmage and he scored in the second. Don't know what to say about Marie. I saw things I liked the 1st time I saw him, but he had a not so great game against Reno I think it was.
Marie wont require an international slot. Hoppenot looked good going forward, defensively he was a bit of a mess.
Just for grins I looked up some odds on our Quakes for this season, some interesting finds: ODDS TO SIGN WITH SAN JOSE FOR 2018 Giuseppe Rossi: 9/1 Emmanuel Adebayor: 15/1 Carlos Tevez: 25/1 Robin van Persie: 30/1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 40/1 Our odds of winning the MLS Cup outright: 51 to 1, they placed the filth at 17 to 1. A 10 buck bet would bring a nice profit on us.
"Hillary Clinton's odds of winning the presidency rose . . . to 91% Monday before Election Day . . . " https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/poli...arket-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html
#MLSisBack! Here's your complete 2018 season preview San Jose Earthquakes A new year, a new era in San Jose. The Quakes took a European turn this winter, with Swiss GM Jesse Fioranelli hiring Swede Mikael Stahre as the club’s new head coach and signing Swedish striker Magnus Eriksson to a Designated Player deal. How the two Swedes adapt to MLS will do a lot to determine if San Jose can improve on a 2017 in which they made the playoffs but had a negative-21 goal differential. —Sam Stejskal 2018 DEPTH CHART KEY ADDITION(S): Magnus Eriksson KEY LOSS: Victor Bernardez BEN BAER'S 2018 PREDICTION: 7th in West
Not a 4-4-2? San Jose Earthquakes Depth Chart - 2018 Roster https://www.mlssoccer.com/rosters/2018/depth-chart/san-jose-earthquakes As of February 26, 2018 (Formation 4-2-3-1): ForwardsStriker Danny Hoesen Quincy Amarikwa Second Forward Chris Wondolowski Jahmir Hyka Vako Tommy Thompson MidfieldLeft Winger Vako Jahmir Hyka Chris Wehan Box-to-box Anibal Godoy Jackson Yueill Eric Calvillo Defensive Mid Florian Jungwirth Fatai Alashe Luis Felipe Gilbert Fuentes Right Winger Magnus Eriksson Tommy Thompson Chris Wehan DefenseLeft Back Shea Salinas Joel Qwiberg Left Center Back Yeferson Quintana Francois Affolter Florian Jungwirth Jacob Akanyirige Right Center Back Harold Cummings Jimmy Ockford Fatai Alashe Jacob Akanyirige Right Back Nick Lima Joel Qwiberg Goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell Matt Bersano JT Marcinkowski
Not a bad attempt. There are many other ways you could fit the players, like Magnus could be a 2nd forward, Salinas can play either right or left back, TT can also play left mid, etc. I don't see Hyka ever playing 2nd forward. But not a bad attempt all things considered.
There's whole reams of "Wrong" in this guy's prognostications. I think he must have used dice to determine his place predictions.
Shades of 2005? Heck even our own front office way underestimated us. I remember a preseason gathering at Cesar Chavez park downtown, and the FO folks, Alexi included, just kind of said, forlornly, that they hoped we'd be competitive.
Or, better yet, shades of 2003. Quakes were supposed to suck then, too. I remember at the championship bash at the downtown Brit, I truthfully told Brian Ching that I knew the team was going to be good after watching the preseason friendly against Shanghai. He gave me a quizzical look, suggesting he considered me a dolt.
Maybe I'm drinking too much kool-aid, but this reminds me of 2012. All the pieces were there to compete, with no talent being greater than the team. Chemistry was good and people over performed. I think we've got very complimentary pieces to play a very quick and compact counter and our depth is way better. I think we'll be tough to beat.
Did you notice during the games against real salt lake and the galaxy that we maintained possesion for quick some time. I think this coach has a completely different mindset than our past coaches, with more nuance. I can't count the amount of times I saw us play the ball through the back multiple passes comfortably in our own penalty box, with thru balls short passing movements, and lots of off ball movement into open space all between the edge of our defensive third and final third. I don't see us as a team that will rush the long ball along the wings, running to the corner for a cross in the box. Granted, in specific situations that may be the best option. Stahre is letting the players play. Attack as a team, defend as a team. Its not a few players going forward and the rest sitting back to defend. He wants the team to move in unison. Players are interchanging their positions a lot more. This month I saw Cummings press up to the center circle (where our attacking MIDs and forwards usually are)while a midfielder hurries back to cover the space left behind. We are playing a high press defense, with a quick transition game. I wouldn't consider our offense this season as counter attacking. We don't let the opposing team press into our defensive third or half. I'd describe our defense with a quote from Remember the Titans, "don't let them gain another yard!". I would describe our offense as a quick possesion based team. If our defense wins the ball back we prefer to move up the field quickly, but not to the extent of our pre Klinsmann USMNT of loosing possesion quickly because there are not enough numbers forward to sustain an attack. We've been playing a lot of 1 2 balls, through balls, chip passes. This month there has been a lot of ball movement horizontally in the air and on the ground. We have Lima and Salinas that will sprint direct along the wings, but our midfielders and forwards are playing a more versatile game. We've been putting a lot more pressure in the final third with six guys in and around the box consistently. If we can consistently play the season like our preseason, improve our finishing (hopefully we were just a bit rusty), we have the potential to do great things. Though after watching our competition play in the CCL this past week, we really need to be solid in our defensive third. Did any of you guys see Seattle's goal chipped goal from midfield in central America this last week? And Toronto's lethal in the box one time goal? My focus will be more on how our high pressure highline defense plays against NYFC, Seattle, Atlanta, Toronto, and Orlando City ( now that they have Yoshi, Rossel, and Kljestan- some bad boys). Lucky we have our Louisiana Brick wall, Tarbell, in goal. His long do you think before he moves to Europe? Maybe our next Kasey Keller or Tim Howard if he continues his consistency, and stays on the same trajectory in development. Breathe of fresh air we finally have a front office and coaching staff that gives us hope and expectation going forward. Really impressed with them so far this early.
I think the mindset is actually pretty similar to Kinnear. Defend first, either deep / two lines of four or high press (but I'm guessing we'll see more of the former), and then counter. I don't see possession being a priority. It's defend and quick counter primarily. That doesn't mean it can't be good. All depends on how effective the counter is. If you are looking for a "different mindset from our past coaches" that would be Chris Leitch. He tried to own the midfield, took a lot of risks on the attack side, did not play conservatively on the road, generally did not bunker, and made possession more of a priority. The results were very mixed, but if nothing else it was truly different from the typical Yallop / Kinnear team. Played a lot of 3-5-2, which I never saw from Kinnear, Yallop, or Wat. I don't think we'll have a good sense for how good we are until when we play KC in KC the second game. We'll sober up pretty fast from all of that preseason "drunk with optimism" playing on the road against a good team. If our counter is real effective we could beat them (like we did that one time when everything went right and we won 5-0). If not, we will get dominated like we usually do there.
MLS Power Rankings, Preseason: The lay of the land ahead of the 2018 season 16 LAST WEEK: - HIGH: 16 | LOW: 16 Much like the Rapids, the Earthquakes have changed both their head coach and most of their roster within the past several months. Voters are content to see what Mikael Stahre can do with his side before placing the Quakes higher. Previous: N/A | Next: vs. MIN on 3/3
Jesse recently said that Marie was working on a green card. I’m guessing that means he would take up a slot until he gets it
Armchair Analyst: Frontrunners, the Pack & all 23 MLS teams by tier San Jose Earthquakes If not for their California neighbors the Quakes would easily win the "Largest Gap Between Your Ceiling and Your Floor" award, which is pretty much exactly what you'd expect of a team that A) made the playoffs, with B) the 19th-best goal differential (-21) in MLS last year. When they were good they were really pretty good – pinging the ball around, combining nicely through midfield, generating quality chances – and when they were bad they got pounded all to hell and lost 5-0. It was uncanny. I don't think this team will have such wild swings in 2018. New head coach Mikael Stahre has a reputation as a solid defensive coach, and he has actual defenders he can use this year (while pushing Florian Jungwirth up to his natural d-mid slot). How those defenders will do is something of a mystery as there will be three new starters on the backline, but it looks like it should work. The attack should work as well even as Chris Wondolowski heads into his final chapter. Stahre has a couple of goalscoring wingers to call on, Danny Hoesen is an under-the-radar pick for a big year at center forward, and this will finally be Tommy Thompson's break-out year, I swear it! I really do think the Quakes will be solid or better. I'm just not super eager to bet my life on it. WEEK 1 LINEUP NOTE: I'll be surprised if I don't get this one spot on. ED. NOTE (BAER): Doyle's wrong, Shea Salinas is going to start at left back.